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1. Technical Field
The present invention is generally related to the transfer of live objects to shackle lines and, more particularly, is related to a system and method for organizing, restraining and transferring live chickens from a farm to a processing facility.
2. Background of the Invention
Manual handling of live birds is a hazardous and unpleasant task. There are potentials for a variety of injuries to human handlers since the birds tend to flail about when they are caught. Potential injuries include: cuts and scratches that can easily become infected in a chicken farm environment; a variety of respiratory and visual ailments resulting from the high level of dust and feathers; hands or fingers can get caught in moving shackle lines; and repetitive motion disorders. The unpleasantness associated with the manual handling of live birds results in high employee turnover rates at some plants. The high turnover rate results in the need to constantly retrain new employees. In addition, it is difficult to attract new workers to the job. In addition, manual handling of live birds may lead to bruising and downgrading of birds.
Despite the drawbacks, live birds are usually handled manually (from hatching through processing). The reason for manual handling is handling of live birds by automation presents unique challenges, such as the following: (1) Unlike handling of non-reactive objects, both the mechanical forces and the bird""s natural reflexes contribute to the overall dynamics; (2) Live birds vary in size and shape, making handling automation difficult; (3) Since both the birds and the grasping fingers are compliant, contact forces depend on the surface geometry and are position/orientation dependent; and (4) In order to justify the need for automation from a cost-savings viewpoint, the mechanical devices must perform the repetitive task in a shorter amount of time, and with more accuracy, than a human.
Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.
The present invention provides a system and method for transferring live objects to a shackle line.
Briefly described, in architecture, the system can be implemented as follows.
A plurality of live objects are introduced to a singulator. The singulator isolates the individual live objects and places them in a pallet on a conveyor. The system may detect and remove cadavers from amongst the live objects. The conveyor leads the live objects to a grasper. The grasper positions the legs of the live objects so that a shackler can secure the legs of the live objects with a shackle. The live objects and the shackle are then inverted and passed on to a shackle line. The shackle line may be a kill line buffer or a kill line.
The present invention can also be viewed as providing a method for automatically transferring a plurality of live objects with legs to a shackle line. In this regard, the method can be broadly summarized by the following steps: isolating each of the plurality of live objects; conveying the live objects to a grasper; positioning the isolated live objects with the legs of the live objects extended; securing the legs of the live objects to one of a plurality of shackles; inverting the live objects; and hanging each of the isolated live objects by the shackle.
Other systems, methods, features, and advantages of the present invention will be or become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following drawings and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the present invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims.